FIJI BARES NEW CONSTITUTION

SUVA, Fiji: Fiji’s military regime on Thursday unveiled a new constitution to serve as a blueprint for 2014 elections, the first polls to be held in the Pacific nation since the government seized power in a coup seven years ago. The document “will underpin the first genuine democracy in Fijian history” and enshrine the principle of one-person one vote, the government said. Fiji’s military ruler, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, has repeatedly said such voting rights are needed to ease long-standing tensions between indigenous Fijians and the island nation’s sizeable Indian minority. Indians make up just under 40 percent of the 900,000-strong population.